Detecting arrow keys

Detecting arrow keys in winforms C# and vb.net

Most Windows Forms applications process keyboard input exclusively by handling the keyboard events. You can detect most physical key presses by handling the KeyDown or KeyUp events. Key events occur in the following order:

	KeyDown
	KeyPress
	KeyUp

Handle arrow key events in c# and vb.net

Arrow Key movement on Forms c# and vb.net

In most cases, the standard KeyUp, KeyDown, and KeyPress events are enough to catch and handle keystrokes. However, not all controls raise these events for all keystrokes under all conditions. For example. The KeyPress event is raised for character keys while the key is pressed and then released. But This event is not raised by noncharacter keys, unlike KeyDown and KeyUp, which are also raised for noncharacter keys

Handle arrow key events in Windows Forms in C# and VB.Net

In order to capture keystrokes in a Forms control, you must derive a new class that is based on the class of the control that you want, and you override the ProcessCmdKey().

Syntax:

C#:

protected override bool ProcessCmdKey(ref Message msg, Keys keyData)
{
	//handle your keys here
}

VB.Net:

Protected Overrides Function ProcessCmdKey(ByRef msg As Message, ByVal keyData As Keys) As Boolean
	'handle your keys here
End Function

This ProcessCmdKey is called during message preprocessing to handle command keys, also it is called only when the control is hosted in a Windows Forms application or as an ActiveX control.

How to detect which Arrow Key is pressed ?

C# code for capture arrow keys.

protected override bool ProcessCmdKey(ref Message msg, Keys keyData)
{
	//capture up arrow key
    if (keyData == Keys.Up )
    {
        MessageBox.Show("You pressed Up arrow key");
        return true;
    }
	//capture down arrow key
    if (keyData == Keys.Down )
    {
        MessageBox.Show("You pressed Down arrow key");
        return true;
    }
	//capture left arrow key
    if (keyData == Keys.Left)
    {
        MessageBox.Show("You pressed Left arrow key");
        return true;
    }
	//capture right arrow key
    if (keyData == Keys.Right )
    {
        MessageBox.Show("You pressed Right arrow key");
        return true;
    }
    return base.ProcessCmdKey(ref msg, keyData);
}

VB.Net code for capture arrow keys.

Protected Overrides Function ProcessCmdKey(ByRef msg As Message, ByVal keyData As Keys) As Boolean
    'detect up arrow key
    If keyData = Keys.Up Then
        MessageBox.Show("You pressed Up arrow key")
        Return True
    End If
    'detect down arrow key
    If keyData = Keys.Down Then
        MessageBox.Show("You pressed Down arrow key")
        Return True
    End If
    'detect left arrow key
    If keyData = Keys.Left Then
        MessageBox.Show("You pressed Left arrow key")
        Return True
    End If
    'detect right arrow key
    If keyData = Keys.Right Then
        MessageBox.Show("You pressed Right arrow key")
        Return True
    End If
    Return MyBase.ProcessCmdKey(msg, keyData)
End Function